Pic-A-Day {12.1 - 12.7}

This has been such a great week! Matthew and I had a little get-a-way for a day, and I celebrated my 28th birthday. It was really hard to pick just one picture for each day this week. (That's why there are two pictures for one of the days!)

 

My mom made me a chocolate chocolate cake for my birthday! It tastes amazing! I wasn't able to eat a lot of chocolate while I was nursing Lyla and Alya, so now that I'm done, a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting was the perfect cake for my birthday!

 I was able to get the lights on my tree! I LOVE Christmas lights

 Playing in the boxes that their new car-seats came in

"Let it Snow!" Lyla loved taking ornaments to Dad (one by one) so he could put them on the tree. Alya loved walking around the living room with the ornaments, and did NOT like giving them to Dad.

P.S. I really hope it does snow soon! I am not sure how I feel about 50 degree weather in December.

 Milk in the morning. They have been LOVING the Care Bears blanket. They like it when I spread it out on the floor - it gives them a nice cozy spot to roll around!

 My favorite buck that we found while driving on the Henrys

One of the many beautiful views we had while looking for big bucks.

 Out for a drive in our new car-seats

Lyla loves to take things out of their original spot and put them back in. She will take all the condiments out of the refrigerator and then put them all back. She likes to un-stack and re-stack toys that fit inside of each other and that stack on top of each other, and now she has found that she can rearrange all my pots. I honestly love it! She takes them out and puts them back. Then takes them out and puts them back. Then takes them out and puts them back. Over and over and over and over again. And not only does she find the perfect spot for them in the drawer, but also on the floor while she is pulling them out of the drawer.

Pic-A-Day {11.24-11.30}

We had such a great Thanksgiving! We went up to see Matthew's parents and sisters. The girls were so entertaining - and constantly entertained! It was great! We were able to go see Matthew's grandparents, which was so nice!

We also went to my mom's house on Saturday to have our traditional Thanksgiving dinner of Navajo Tacos! It was fun to see everyone!

The girls were so worn out from the weekend, they took a 3 hour nap this morning!

Dipping hot dogs in their ketchup // Missing Daddy

Feeding Mo one of his treats

Spending Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa's house

 Christmas tree hunting

Second Thanksgiving at Nana's house

A baby and some Christmas lights

five years

{I meant to post this yesterday...sorry!}

Five years ago on Thanksgiving (Nov 26) the most amazing man had me get out of bed at 3:00 in the morning and took me on a four wheeler ride up near Oxford Peak above Downey, ID. We got up on top of the mountain way before the sun came up. We sat with our backs against the four wheeler wrapped up in blankets, and me in Matthew's arms. 

We talked and made lists of things we were grateful for. Of course, one of the items on our list was that we were grateful for each other!

Then, as the sun began to rise, Matthew stood up and hugged me so tight! He was so shaky. Then he kneeled down and presented me with a beautiful ring and asked me to marry him!

It was the happiest day of my life!

I love that every Thanksgiving is a reminder of that day for me. It was a day that obviously changed my life! I remember as we were riding off the mountain, I had the song "I'm the happiest girl in the whole USA" stuck in my head. 

I am so thankful that Matthew was willing to have me as his wife. I am so thankful that I get to be his wife. I'm thankful for the life that we are building together. I'm thankful that he has made me a mother. 

Everyone faces hard times and there is always something that we can better about ourselves, but with Matthew by my side, I can do anything! (Cheesy- I know, but true!) 

Matthew, Thank you for asking me to be your wife five years ago! I love you so much! 

Pic-A-Day {11.17 - 11.23}

 

11-17 Mama & Lyla // 11-18 bubbles in the house (also, Alya loves to wear her birthday tutu around the house)

 

11-19 brushing their teeth

 

11-20 best friends

 

11-21 a visit with Great Granpa

 

11-22 reading stories with Nana

 

11-23 ready for church in their new sweater dresses



A Little Review

It's amazing how much a baby learns in a year. With the holidays approaching it's easy for me to look back at where we were a year ago. Last Thanksgiving the girls were so tiny. All they did was lay around. They weren't rolling, or crawling or running. We were at my aunt and uncle's house and during dinner we put the girls on a blanket underneath the ceiling fan where they were content for at least a few minutes. Now I can't imagine them holding still for a few minutes watching fan blades spin around and around.

At Christmas they were still sleeping all day and just wanted to be held all day. I know that I took a lot for granted when they were that small. Now, it's pretty much a miracle if they fall asleep in our arms. In fact, they DON'T fall asleep in my arms. My mom and Matthew's mom have managed to get them to sleep in their arms, but they refuse to sleep in my arms. It's a little sad! :) They are just SO big!!

This Thanksgiving they will be running around Grandpa and Grandma's house...probably getting pulled around the hardwood floor by the arms and LOVING it. They will be feeding themselves turkey (and Navajo tacos) with all of their aunts. This Christmas they will be opening their own gifts, and playing with the boxes...probably not the toys. Haha!

Time goes so fast. So, I wanted to take a look back at the past 14 months. A walk down memory lane, if you will.

Lyla - the oldest, but the smallest. The beautiful baby with the squished face. She came out of the womb holding her head up and wanting to look around and see everything around her.She lost her umbilical cord on September 26, 2013. She rolled from her tummy to her back at 3 months. She rolled from her back to her tummy at 5 months. She starting sitting when she was 6 months, and started crawling at 8 months. She stood at 9 months and walked on August 24 (11 months). Her first words were "Dada" and "Kitty Kitty."

Alya - beautiful, wiggly, cuddly little girl. She was born wanting to cuddle and be loved. She lost her umbilical cord on September 24, 2013. She rolled from her tummy to her back at 3 months. She rolled from her back to her tummy at 5 months. She started sitting when she was 6 months, and started crawling at 8 months. She stood at 8 months and walked on August 18 (11 months).

Her first word was "Mo."

Now-a-days these two are practically running. Lyla likes to take off as fast as she can, and usually ends up in a face plant. Alya is a lot more careful most of the time, but her feet are growing and getting too big for her shoes, and she keeps face-planting once we get her shoes on her.

They love to look at animal books. They can make all sorts of animal noises. Cow, horse, snake, bear, turkey, elephant, cat, wolf, dog, (they try pig), they make a great fishy face, and they open and close their fingers like a crab pincher. The do "choo-choo" for train, and they act like they have their hands on a steering wheel for car. They like to play on the I-Pad and my phone.

They love to be outside. When they get the hankering, they will bring me their hats, or gloves, or shoes, or coats. They love Mo so much. They like to give him kisses. They have also found out where we keep his bones, so he gets 4 or 5 bones a day from each girl. (That's exaggerating a little...) They like to get the bone and act like they are going to give it to him, and just before he goes to get it they run away from him. They even sample them for him - I don't know - maybe they are making sure they're not poisoned or something!

They are just so fun!! They have their moments...as all kids do. They really are the greatest. 

Pic-A-Day Debut

These pictures are not actually correctly labeled...I'm including pictures from a few weeks ago that never made it on my blog, but I want them on my blog, so they will go in this weeks Pic-A-Day.

11-10 A nice 4 point

11-11 Happy Halloween from these two little monsters

11-12 Some mornings start on the Ipad

11-13 Saying hello to the neighbor's dog // 11-14 Rocks are yummy to eat

 

11-15 Coloring is great. But only in a spiral notebook, and with pencils or pens. (No coloring books or colored pencils)

 

11-16 New coats

Can I even call them babies anymore? {12 months}

Seriously!? Can I even call these two babies anymore? (of course I can! They will always be my babies!) I think they are technically TODDLERS. Oh, that's a scary word. They have been toddling around my house for the last month, and now that they are 1, I guess it's official. It makes my heart ache just a little! I know I say this every month, but WHERE DID MY BABIES GO!!!???!!!

I feel like these two have changed so much in the last month. They went from crawling like maniacs and loving walking with anyone's help - but only with anyone's help (Lyla used to REFUSE to walk unless she could hold onto both of your hands) - to almost running! When they first started walking, (Alya was first) they would just wander from one room to the next. They didn't really play with toys much, they just walked from room to room, just because they could, I guess. They don't ever crawl anymore. But watching them walk around is the cutest thing in the whole world. Next to watching them "running" - or should I say walking really fast while they are squealing and being chased by me. Those are the best times. They have the best belly laughs. And just imagine, one baby belly laugh is adorable, but two of them!? It's amazing! I am seriously the luckiest mama!

I love watching them with each other. Sometimes they play really cute together, other times they don't play well together at all. But they do love to watch each other - which usually leads to them playing together. Even when they don't seem to really want to play together, they tend to prefer to be in the same room as one another. Which I think is so funny! And they almost always prefer to be in the same room as me. It's even hard to get them to stay in the same room as Matthew so that I can go cook dinner, or use the bathroom! Haha!
When we put the girls to bed, they each always get a kiss (or three) from Mom and Dad, but lately we have been letting them give each other kisses before bed, and they love it! They give each other wet, open mouth kisses while giggling the whole time! SO CUTE!!!

They have started to rely on a story before naptime/bedtime. They even have a couple of favorites. Their absolute favorite for a while was "Little Blue Truck." I could tell Lyla to go get "Blue" and she would find it across the room, buried under a pile of other books, and bring it to me to read it to her. She loves to point to the frog and the cow, and sometimes the piggy. And they love to be bounced when Blue goes "bump, bump, bump." They also really like "I Love You Through and Through" which is a really cute story about how we love our kids when they are happy, sad, silly, mad, etc. and how we love their hair, eyes, fingers, toes, ears, nose, etc. One of the pictures in the book is a close up of the little boys nose and eyes. Lyla (and now Alya) will touch the little boys' nose, and then touch her own nose. While we are reading the story we can ask where their noses are, and they almost always touch their nose (or their lips or cheeks, but we know they are aiming for their nose!). But they won't do it unless they are reading their book.
They do know where their belly buttons are. Alya usually ends up touching the VERY top of her little round tummy - which is no where near her belly button. But in her defense, it's hard for her to look down and see anything but the top of her belly. And it's really hard to see her belly button! Lyla usually reaches too far for her belly button and touches closer to her hips - probably for the same reason. It's hard to see over that round belly, so it's kind of a guessing game! :) They think it's really funny to find my belly button, and it's especially fun to play with my saggy, iwasoncepregnantwithtwins tummy.

They have always been fairly easy to lay down for naps and bedtime - most of the time. But lately, it has been SO easy! And I really hope I don't regret bragging about this! I do think they might start transitioning to one nap a day - which I am kind of dreading. It just seems every now and then, they don't get tired for their morning nap for an hour past their normal nap time. My biggest complaint about nap time is that they do best when they each have two binkies. They like to have one in their mouth, and one in their hands. It's so weird, but I guess if it helps them sleep, I'll let them have that one!
They also usually wake up so cute! If they wake up at the same time, they usually just sit in their cribs and talk to each other, and every now and then I hear them chuckling together until I go in and get them. I absolutely love it! That's how most mornings are anymore!

Their tiny bottom teeth are not so tiny anymore. Having these teeth come in has been so hard on them! They chew on everything, but they don't like to chew on the things that should help them - like cold teethers. They would rather chew on things like the lid to my vitamin bottle, or our broken railing, or even our window sill. They have taken chunks of paint and plaster off it. It's at the perfect height for their little mouths. Plus they like to look outside, so there is a little added appeal to gnawing on the window sill. And thank goodness I am almost done nursing because Lyla has started to chew on me every now and then!

Lyla got her second tooth this month. It came through on August 23.

She waves hello and goodbye, but it's usually when the person that she is waving to is no longer looking at her.

She got new shoes this month and did really good the first time we put her in them. She LOVES her new shoes, and when I ask her to bring them to me, she almost always knows where they are, (even though they are rarely put in the same spot twice) and will bring them to me, even if she was happily playing with something else when I asked her to go get them.

She loves to throw her Spiderman ball that Daxton gave her. When it bounces in the right spot, it lights up with blue and red lights, so she will walk around the house, throwing the ball and trying to get it to light up.

She can tell you what a puppy says, and always does a little bounce when she "barks." I guess it's more like a really airy "woof." She loves puppies. She will find them in people's yards, or walking past our house, or in books, and laugh and "woof" and it's so cute!
She also likes to practice her elk call. Matthew was watching a video one night to try to learn how to use an elk call, and Lyla kept copying the noise that Matthew and the video were making. I did record it, but for some reason I am unable to upload the video. If you want to see it, I can show you! :) It was really funny!

At the girls' one year check up today, Lyla weighed 20.14 lbs. and was 28 inches long. That puts her in the 33% for weight and the 16% for height. She is definitely my runt! But she is doing great!

Alya likes to shake her head no (although Lyla LOVES to tell me no) and she will nod her head yes. Usually when the girls are eating, they end up throwing a lot of food on the floor. So I tell them "no, no" and Alya almost always shakes her head no. Then it becomes a game of us going back and forth shaking and nodding our heads when I say "no" or "yes." And she thinks she is so funny!

She says "uh oh!" pretty much anytime she drops something. If she drops her water from her high chair, "uh oh!" If she drops a toy she is holding, "uh oh!" and my favorite is when she wakes up from a nap and drops her binky out of her crib, I can hear through the monitor saying "uh oh" multiple times.

She waves hello and goodbye, but it's always with a bent wrist. Like she's too lazy to raise her fingers! It's pretty funny!

I have been letting the girls pick out their clothes lately. I just take them to their closet and dress them in whatever they grabbed. One day, I put Alya in the dress she picked out and she immediately stood up, put her hands on her tummy and looked down at the dress, and then started to twist at the hips. It was so cute!! She must have just felt like the prettiest little girl on the face of the earth. And especially in that moment, she was!

She also loves her new shoes. Sometimes when she wakes up while Matthew is getting ready for work, he will put one of her shoes in bed with her and I will find her playing with it when she wakes up two hours later. The first time I put her in them, she just stood in one spot, looking at them. She did NOT know what to do with these foreign things on her feet. Her first few steps in shoes were VERY unsure. But now she is pro! She loves putting her shoes on because it means that we get to go outide!

She is very quick to give hugs and kisses when it's her idea. My favorite thing is when we are playing, she almost runs up to me with her arms outstretched, and wraps them around my neck. She cuddles with me for a minute and then usually gives me a quick kiss before she continues playing. It's another one of the "it's the best/I am the luckiest mama" moments.

Today Alya weighed in at 22.10 lbs. and she was 29 inches long. That puts her in the 66% for weight and the 45% for height.

They are very helpful when we are getting dressed now-a-days. They always lift up one leg at a time so I can slip their pants off, and they will sit very patiently in my lap, and offer me their feet so I can slip pants, and socks and shoes on for them. They do especially well when we are putting shoes and socks on, because it means they get to leave the house! :)

We have had the opportunity to take a lot of drives into the mountains as a family the last little while. The girls and I have loved it! We usually drive for a while and look for animals and see if we can see some fall colors. Then we stop and either just play for a little while, or have dinner and do our bedtime routine and then come home. It has been so much fun! It's fun to get out and let the girls wander around and play in the mountains!

I can't believe it's been a year. Everyone always says they don't remember what life was like without their kids, and I'm not going to lie. I DO remember what life was like before we had kids, and while I can pretty honestly say it was a lot easier, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Now that I know what life as a mom is, I couldn't imagine wanting to go back to how it was before. I love my husband and I love my girls. I love them with all of my heart! I truly feel so blessed to have them in my life. What a wonderful responsibility it is to be a wife, and especially to be a mom.